Putin’s Aide Holds Talks With NSA Doval

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deputy Nikolay Patrushev held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Monday, discussing various aspects of bilateral relations. It was learned that the talks largely focused on President Putin’s visit to India early next month.

Patrushev also met with India’s National Maritime Security Coordinator, Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta.

The Russian president is expected to visit India around December 5 for annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The summit is expected to produce important results that will further strengthen bilateral strategic ties.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is currently in Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Jaishankar’s visit is also seen as part of preparations for Putin’s visit.

At the India-Russia annual summit, Modi and Putin are expected to discuss further expansion of the “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” between the two countries.

India and Russia have a mechanism where the Indian prime minister and the Russian President hold a summit meeting every year to review all relations.

So far, 22 annual summit meetings have been held alternately in India and Russia.

In July last year, Modi went to Moscow for the annual summit.

Russia has been a time-tested partner of India and the country has been an important pillar of New Delhi’s foreign policy.